safari on windows, developers and choice

well, apparently there is a new browser in town for windows ;-).  if you haven't heard (then shame on you if this is your only source of information!), apple released a beta of safari for the windows platform.

my initial reaction was..."hmmm"

like any card-carrying geek member, i downloaded and installed.  yep, looks like safari.  so what.  on my mac i don't even use safari.  i'm not a fan of it.  people don't extend it very often.  (extend means different things to different people, what does it mean in the context of your situation tim? -- good point, i'm talking here in the sense of consumer-based plugins; i'm fully aware of safari extensibility other places.)

hanselman posted some first impressions and asked "what's the point? was this browser needed?"  it is a good question.  (note: i did not see the amazing speed that scott posted about in my simple, completely unscientific test, but my human sniff test didn't notice anything that made me say "holy crap!?"

so, what about it?  was this needed?  i don't think so.  now i've seen people all over criticize (and have been in rooms full of these people as well) internet explorer/microsoft and make suggestions that the world just love firefox.  so, what gives here...where are all the rants of yet another browser to apple?  i just find that interesting in my little conspiracy theory minded brain.  after all, is the mother-in-law focus audience going to go out and install this?  i doubt it.  (but if they do, rest assured apple succeeded in getting bonjour and other defaults installed as that audience will not pay attention to those options.)  but perhaps it isn't the browser that is important here.

with the release of the iphone weeks away, apple has made it clear that safari will be the programming platform there.  their taglines even state 'Safari makes the web work on iPhone.'  this is where i think their move was important to them.  they recognize that there is a huge developer base on windows.  they need those developers.  get the tools in front of them.  is safari important?  i don't think so as a browser...but look what safari brings to windows once installed...the base of webkit, apple's html rendering engine.  i think that is the key play here.

anyhow, i've already stated i'm not a safari user on mac...why would i be one on windows...it just isn't a great browser to me.  but to each his own...